


Give It All Up (and Gain Something Back)

by Lazy8



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [21]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Ableism, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bullying, Burns, Conflation of a woman's worth with her physical attractiveness, Episode: s03e14-15 The Boiling Rock, Gen, Poor Accommodation of a Disability, Public Mutilation, Victim Blaming, loss of sight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:01:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28320555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lazy8/pseuds/Lazy8
Summary: Mai still gave it all up to save Zuko... but Ty Lee was just a little too slow to saveher, and she's going to have to live with the consequences.
Relationships: Mai & Ty Lee (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1846456
Comments: 7
Kudos: 47
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo





	Give It All Up (and Gain Something Back)

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt:** Loss of Sight  
>  **Hurt Character:** Other/Your Choice  
>  **Comforting Character(s):** None

"I guess you just don't know people as well as you think you do. You miscalculated. I love Zuko more than I fear you."

From the controlled fury of only a second before, Azula's face twisted into an expression of barely contained rage. "No, _you_ miscalculated! You should have feared me more!"

And Mai _was_ afraid. Of _course_ she was afraid.

She already knew she wasn't going to win this fight. She'd known it from the moment she'd let her first knife fly.

More importantly, she knew that she couldn't expect Azula to show her mercy. She'd already accepted that she was going to die today—and that her death was _not_ going to be quick or painless.

"Well, I suppose if you're so desperate to protect a traitor, then you can share his fate!"

The blue flames came at her face even as Mai's knives left her hands.

The last thing she saw was a streak of pink darting in to strike Azula—but her fire wasn't cut off quite quickly _enough_. Even as Ty Lee struck, the flames were upon her, and then her face was consumed in a torrent of burning agony. Mai collapsed with a small choked gasp, able to do nothing but curl in on herself in a futile attempt to stop the pain. It _hurt_ ; sweet merciful Agni it hurt _so badly_ , and she refused to scream or cry even as her face kept burning and burning and the burning just _wouldn't stop_ , because she wasn't going to give Azula the satisfaction of letting her know she'd made her suffer and—

Then, there were hands on her, wrapped around her shoulders, tugging her clothes. "Mai! Mai, come on, you have to get up, we have to get out of here—!"

Ty Lee. Ty Lee had stood up to _Azula—_ and she'd done it for _Mai_.

Mai had neither the strength nor the heart to tell Ty Lee that she _couldn't_ get up. That it was all she could do just to hold onto consciousness. A few seconds later, the matter was taken out of her hands anyway: she felt Ty Lee being pulled away from her, her hands tightening around Mai's clothes in a last-ditch effort to maintain contact before her touch was replaced by the grip of new hands, hands that were holding her not to comfort or encourage, but to restrain.

"You're both fools!" Azula's voice, from somewhere in front of her and suspiciously close to her level.

"What shall we do with them, Princess?" Mai couldn't open her eyes to look, but the voice was an unfamiliar one: probably one of the guards.

"Put them somewhere I'll never have to see their faces again, and let them rot!"

* * *

After that, they were separated: Ty Lee to a jail cell, Mai to the prison infirmary.

The first thing they did was handcuff her to the bed.

Mai could have told them they needn't have bothered: she wasn't going anywhere with her whole face swathed in bandages. She didn't, though. She was just _so tired_ , and speaking seemed like a pointless waste of energy.

Her burns were treated—roughly, with very little care to be gentle—but at least they _were_ treated. The working philosophy of the Boiling Rock seemed to be that while they couldn't get away with outright _killing_ anyone, painkillers were wasted on prisoners, but years with Azula had already taught her to show nothing. She didn't complain.

On her second day, she got a visitor.

"Why, Mai?" Her eyes were still covered with bandages, but she recognized her uncle's voice. "Why betray the princess like this—why betray your _nation?_ "

Mai made an effort to push herself into a sitting position; the handcuffs stopped her. "If I hadn't, everyone on that gondola would have been dropped into the boiling lake." She spoke matter-of-factly, as if she hadn't been jolted awake only the previous night by a nightmare in which she'd been too late, and had been able to do nothing but stand there and watch as Zuko was boiled to death. "I didn't want Zuko to die—or for that matter, you."

For a moment, her uncle said nothing. Strain her ears as she might, she couldn't tell where he was or what he was doing; the only reason she could be sure he was still there was that she hadn't heard the sound of his boots retreating.

"I can't give you special treatment just because you're my niece," he said at last. "I've already been embarrassed enough by my perfect record being broken—in front of the princess, no less." Mai said nothing; they both knew he didn't need to remind her of the part she'd played in that. "As long as you're here, you'll be treated just like any other prisoner."

"Of course." Did he think she was an idiot? She knew the cost of what she'd done; she wasn't going to start trying to back out now.

For a moment, there was only silence, and then her uncle let out a sigh. "Get some rest," he said at last. "You're going to need it."

The last she heard of him was the sound of his boots clomping away.

* * *

From the second Azula had burned her, she'd had a nagging suspicion. That suspicion was confirmed when the bandages came off for good.

"You cannot perceive anything at all?" the head physician repeated, holding a flame directly in front of her eyes. She could not help but flinch at the heat. "No light or shadow? No color?"

"No." Despite her normally iron-clad control, Mai could not quite keep the impatient snap out of her voice. Azula's final attack, and the consequences of it, must have left her more shaken than she'd previously thought.

"Well, I suppose that's what you get for betraying your nation." The physician's voice held not even the tiniest trace of sympathy. "We're done here." Her voice became slightly less clear as she turned her head to address someone who wasn't Mai. "Take her to her cell."

Being escorted to a jail cell by a pair of guards might have been humiliating, but at least there would have been _some_ dignity in it. What happened instead was considerably worse.

She had to be led, the guards who were escorting her gripping her arms almost hard enough to bruise. They made no effort to warn her when they were approaching a door or a staircase, or to steady her when she inevitably tripped. Mai was gritting her teeth all the while, but was determined not to give them the satisfaction of a visible reaction.

They didn't bother to tell her when they reached her cell, either, instead all but throwing her into it without any warning.

"Welcome to your new home," one of them said smugly before the door slammed closed behind her in an unforgiving ring of metal.

The only way for her to familiarize herself with the cell was by feeling out its dimensions. She ended up tripping over the bed and falling flat on her face before she'd even finished making the first circuit.

* * *

It wasn't until her first meal in the mess hall (led by a guard, who'd also gripped too hard and made no effort to keep her from tripping) that the isolation was finally broken.

"Mai! I've been _so worried_ about you!"

A pair of arms wrapped around her, arms whose strength was belied by the softness of the _rest_ of the body that was pressing against hers. Mai nearly dropped her dinner before her mind caught up, and she realized that the voice that had spoken to her was a familiar one. "Ty Lee?"

"I asked and asked and asked, but they wouldn't let me in to see you." Ty Lee sounded like she was about to cry. "I wasn't even sure whether you were still _alive_ after what Azula did to you, and—oh. Oh, _no_."

"What? Do Zuko and I match now or something?" Her meager attempt at a joke was received with only a whimper, and Mai let out a sigh.

"I'm _fine_ , Ty Lee." Mai pulled away; the bump of something solid against her hip told her that she was thankfully close to a table. Carefully, she set her tray down before gently but firmly prying her friend's hands off. "I knew what I was getting into, and I don't have any regrets. What I really want to know, is why did _you_ do it?"

"Why do you _think?_ " and _there_ were the sniffles. "I didn't want you to die, Mai. Azula was going to _kill_ you, and I didn't want you to die, and I'm so, _so_ sorry I didn't try to stop her sooner," and then Ty Lee was hugging her again, and Mai was awkwardly patting whatever part of her anatomy was within easy reach, for once not caring about who might catch her in a moment of vulnerability.

* * *

"You're free to go."

The announcement was as abrupt as it was unexpected. For a moment, she thought it might be the guards' idea of a cruel joke. This didn't have the air of a joke, though: the guards liked to torment her by letting her trip or run into walls, or by discussing in her presence (loudly) how much of a shame it was that no man would ever want her, with a face like that. It was obnoxious, but the clumsy amateurishness of their bullying was almost more painful than the bullying itself. None of them knew how to pick out her weak spots and dig their fingers in the way that Azula did: they weren't smart enough to do anything so delicate as getting her hopes up only to bring them crashing back down again. At least, Mai had very little faith in their ability to do such a thing on _purpose_.

Mai didn't move. She didn't even bother to turn her head in his direction. "Why?"

"Fire Lord's orders. Now, are you coming, or are you just going to sit there?"

It was only thanks to years' worth of emotional repression from living with her parents, and years' more from dealing with Azula, that Mai managed not to show any reaction. She stood without another word.

Ty Lee was with her on the way out, and for once, Mai made no effort to protest her clinging. As it was, the swaying motion of the gondola, coupled by being unable to orient herself visually, made her feel as if she were about to be sick.

The airship ride, at least, was considerably smoother—so much so that if she hadn't known better, Mai might have thought she was still on the ground. As they drew (according to the pilot, at least) ever closer to the Fire Nation capital, she leaned back in her seat, letting Ty Lee's chatter wash over her, even though she didn't have the energy to make any response.

While their release was being processed, her uncle had come to see her off. He'd also informed her of the developments that she and Ty Lee had missed during their time in prison.

" _Well, Mai_ ," he'd said gruffly, " _it looks like you played your cards right after all. Your boyfriend is going to be Fire Lord soon, and he's declared an end to the war. Good luck._ "

He'd pressed a cane into her hands before leaving without another word.

* * *

The guards allowed them into the palace without question. Ty Lee skipped along by her side, holding her by the hand, nearly dragging Mai in her enthusiasm.

It was… strange, to be here again. These corridors were familiar to her, had been since her earliest childhood when she'd first had the misfortune to attract the attention of a princess who'd found a use for her talents. She remembered the perfume from the gardens, and the caress of the warm breeze that wafted in through the windows was as familiar to her as the touch of an old friend. The cold marble under her feet, too, was just the same as it had always been—but the constant _tap tap_ of her cane against the floor was new, as was the complete lack of input from her ruined eyes.

She had not asked Ty Lee again how she looked.

"We're here," Ty Lee chirped unexpectedly, letting go of her hand. "I'll just go ahead and leave you two alone now."

Wait a minute, did that mean…?

"… _Mai!?_ "

Oh, no. She knew _that_ voice all too well, and she _was not ready for this_.

" _Pity about that face, eh? What man would want to look at_ that _every day?_ "

"So. Fire Lord, huh?"

"Well… _officially_ , not for the next few minutes." Then, warm hands were on her elbows, and she could feel the heat of his breath on her face. "Mai… what did Azula _do_ to you?"

Mai reached out to push him away—while there _were_ things she wanted from Zuko, she did _not_ want his pity—only for her hand to encounter not fine silk, but bare skin. He must still be in the process of getting dressed. Granted, Zuko's half-dressed state hardly bothered her—she'd already seen him in much less than this, thank you very much—but the gauze she could feel wrapped around his torso most certainly _did_.

"What did Azula do to _me?_ " she demanded, stepping back and tilting her face toward where she imagined Zuko's would be. "What did she do to _you?_ "

For there was no question that, whatever the nature of his injury, it had been Azula's doing—or if not hers, Ozai's. Maybe it was just the blankness that now reigned where light had once been or the burning ache that she still sometimes felt in her face, but right now Mai was betting her money on Azula.

"There was an Agni Kai involved. And some lightning. It's… sort of a long story."

"Hey Zuko, are you ready yet? It's almost—oh, hey!"

"Oh, um… Mai, this is Aang. The Avatar. Aang, this is Mai, my… girlfriend? Or at least, I _hope_ she's still my girlfriend…"

As introductions were made and coronation preparations continued, Mai tuned them out. She could always get the full story out of him later—just as she'd give him the full story of what had happened to _her_.

For once, she was sure that there _would_ be a later. They had time. For probably the first time in their lives, they had all the time in the world.


End file.
